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Author Koju. N. P, , Bashyal, B., Pandey, B. P., Shah, S. N., Thami, S. ,Bleisch, W. V.
Title First camera-trap record of the snow leopard Panthera uncia in Gaurishankar Conservation Area, Nepal Type Journal Article
Year 2020 Publication Oryx Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages 1-4
Keywords Camera trap, corridor, Gaurishankar Conser- vation Area, Nepal, Panthera uncia, prey abundance, transboundary, snow leopard
Abstract The snow leopard Panthera uncia is the flagship species of the high mountains of the Himalayas. There is po- tentially continuous habitat for the snow leopard along the northern border of Nepal, but there is a gap in information about the snow leopard in Gaurishankar Conservation Area. Previous spatial analysis has suggested that the Lamabagar area in this Conservation Area could serve as a transbound- ary corridor for snow leopards, and that the area may con- nect local populations, creating a metapopulation. However, there has been no visual confirmation of the species in Lamabagar. We set !! infrared camera traps for " months in Lapchi Village of Gaurishankar Conservation Area, where blue sheep Pseudois nayaur, musk deer Moschus leucogaster and Himalayan tahr Hemitragus jemlahicus, all snow leopard prey species, had been observed. In November #$!% at &,!$$ m, ' km south-west of Lapchi Village, one camera recorded three images of a snow leopard, the first photographic evidence of the species in the Conservation Area. Sixteen other species of mammals were also recorded. Camera-trap records and sightings indicated a high abun- dance of Himalayan tahr, blue sheep and musk deer. Lapchi Village may be a potentially important corridor for snow leopard movement between the east and west of Nepal and northwards to Quomolongma National Park in China. However, plans for development in the region present in- creasing threats to this corridor. We recommend develop- ment of a transboundary conservation strategy for snow leopard conservation in this region, with participation of Nepal, China and international agencies.
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Call Number Serial 1622
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Author Rashid, W., Shi, J., Rahim, I. U., Dong, S., Sultan, H.
Title Issues and Opportunities Associated with Trophy Hunting and Tourism in Khunjerab National Park, Northern Pakistan Type Journal Article
Year 2020 Publication Animals Abbreviated Journal
Volume 10 Issue 597 Pages 1-20
Keywords trophy hunting; mass tourism; Pamir; eco-tourism; human-Snow leopard conflict
Abstract Trophy hunting and mass tourism are the two major interventions designed to provide various socioeconomic and ecological benefits at the local and regional levels. However, these interventions have raised some serious concerns that need to be addressed. This study was conducted in Khunjerab National Park (KNP) with an aim to analyze comparatively the socioeconomic and ecological impacts of trophy hunting and mass tourism over the last three decades within the context of sustainability. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with key stakeholders and household interviews were conducted to collect data on trophy hunting and mass tourism, and on local attitudes towards these two interventions in and around KNP. The results revealed that 170 Ibex (Capra sibirica) and 12 Blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) were hunted in the study area over the past three decades, and trophy hunting was not based on a sustainable harvest level. Trophy hunting on average generated USD 16,272 annual revenue, which was invested in community development. However, trophy hunting has greatly changed the attitudes of local residents towards wildlife: a positive attitude towards the wild ungulates and strongly negative attitude towards wild carnivores. In addition, trophy hunting has reduced the availability of ungulate prey species for Snow leopards (Panthera uncia), and consequently, Snow leopards have increased their predation on domestic livestock. This has, in turn, increased human–snow leopard conflict, as negative attitudes towards carnivores result in retaliatory killing of Snow leopards. Furthermore, according to ocial record data, the number of tourists to KNP has increased tremendously by 10,437.8%, from 1382 in 1999 to 145,633 in 2018. Mass tourism on average generated USD 33,904 annually and provided opportunities for locals to earn high incomes, but it caused damages to the environment and ecosystem in KNP through pollution generation and negative impacts on wildlife. Considering the limited benefits and significant problems created by trophy hunting and mass tourism, we suggest trophy hunting should be stopped and mass tourism should be shifted to ecotourism in and around KNP. Ecotourism could mitigate human–Snow leopard conflicts and help conserve the fragile ecosystem, while generating enough revenue incentives for the community to protect biodiversity and compensate for livestock depredation losses to Snow leopards. Our results may have implications for management of trophy hunting and mass tourism in other similar regions that deserve further investigation.
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Area Expedition (up) Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1621
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Author Sharma, R. K., Sharma, K., Borchers, D., Bhatnagar, Y. V., Suryawanshi, K. S., Mishra, C.
Title Spatial variation in population-density, movement and detectability of snow leopards in 2 a multiple use landscape in Spiti Valley, Trans-Himalaya Type Journal Article
Year 2020 Publication bioRxiv Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages
Keywords Co-existence; land sharing; population-density; spatial capture recapture; Pseudois nayaur Capra sibirica; ungulates; livestock.
Abstract The endangered snow leopard Panthera uncia occurs in human use landscapes in the mountains of South and Central Asia. Conservationists generally agree that snow leopards must be conserved through a land-sharing approach, rather than land-sparing in the form of strictly protected areas. Effective conservation through land-sharing requires a good understanding of how snow leopards respond to human use of the landscape. Snow leopard density is expected to show spatial variation within a landscape because of variation in the intensity of human use and the quality of habitat. However, snow leopards have been difficult to enumerate and monitor. Variation in the density of snow leopards remains undocumented, and the impact of human use on their populations is poorly understood. We examined spatial variation in snow leopard density in Spiti Valley, an important snow leopard landscape in India, via spatially explicit capture recapture analysis of camera trap data. We camera trapped an area encompassing a minimum convex polygon of 953 km . We estimated an overall density of 0.49 (95% CI: 0.39-0.73) adult snow leopards per 100 km . Using AIC, our best model showed the density of snow leopards to depend on wild prey density, movement about activity centres to depend on altitude, and the expected number of encounters at the activity centre to depend on topography. Models that also used livestock biomass as a density covariate ranked second, but the effect of livestock was weak. Our results highlight the importance of maintaining high density pockets of wild prey populations in multiple use landscapes to enhance snow leopard conservation.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
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Area Expedition (up) Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1620
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Author Zhang, L., Lian, X., Yang, X
Title Population density of snow leopards (Panthera Uncia) in the Yage Valley Region of the Sanjiangyuan National Park: Conservation Implications and future directions Type Journal Article
Year 2020 Publication Artic, Antartic and Alpine Research Abbreviated Journal
Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 541-550
Keywords Snow leopard; population density; camera trapping; Tibetan Plateau; alpine ecosystem
Abstract Population-based studies on snow leopard (Panthera uncia) are of theoretical and practical sig- nificance for the conservation of alpine ecosystems, though geographic remoteness and isolation hinder surveys in many promising regions. The Sanjiangyuan National Park on the Tibetan Plateau is acknowledged as a main snow leopard habitat, but most of the region remains unexplored and unknown. We adopted a combined approach of route survey and camera trapping survey to explore the population density of snow leopard in the Yage Valley region of the Sanjiangyuan National Park. Results indicated that (1) large populations of blue sheep contributed to the major food supply for snow leopards, along with diverse prey species as dietary supplementations, and (2) a population density of four to six snow leopards per 100 km2 on the north bank was estimated, and nine to fourteen individuals within the valley core areas were identified. We also argue that under the potential impacts of hydropower dams, this valley ecosystem should be symbolized as a conservation hotspot and therefore merits prioritized conservation. We recommend further surveys combined with novel methods/techniques and advocate a sustainable ecotourism model for the first V-shaped valley along the Yangtze mainstream.
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Area Expedition (up) Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1619
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Author Durbach, I., Borchers, D., Sutherland, C., Sharma, K.
Title Fast, flexible alternatives to regular grid designs for spatial capture–recapture. Type Research Article
Year 2020 Publication Methods in Ecology and Evolution Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages 1-13
Keywords camera trap, population ecology,sampling, spatial capture-recapture, surveys
Abstract Spatial capture–recapture (SCR) methods use the location of

detectors (camera traps, hair snares and live-capture traps) and the

locations at which animals were detected (their spatial capture

histories) to estimate animal density. Despite the often large expense

and effort involved in placing detectors in a landscape, there has been

relatively little work on how detectors should be located. A natural

criterion is to place traps so as to maximize the precision of density

estimators, but the lack of a closed-form expression for precision has

made optimizing this criterion computationally demanding. 2. Recent

results by Efford and Boulanger (2019) show that precision can be well

approximated by a function of the expected number of detected

individuals and expected number of recapture events, both of which can

be evaluated at low computational cost. We use these results to develop

a method for obtaining survey designs that optimize this approximate

precision for SCR studies using count or binary proximity detectors, or

multi-catch traps. 3. We show how the basic design protocol can be

extended to incorporate spatially varying distributions of activity

centres and animal detectability. We illustrate our approach by

simulating from a camera trap study of snow leopards in Mongolia and

comparing estimates from our designs to those generated by regular or

optimized grid designs. Optimizing detector placement increased the

number of detected individuals and recaptures, but this did not always

lead to more precise density estimators due to less precise estimation

of the effective sampling area. In most cases, the precision of density

estimators was comparable to that obtained with grid designs, with

improvement in some scenarios where approximate CV(¬D) < 20% and density

varied spatially. 4. Designs generated using our approach are

transparent and statistically grounded. They can be produced for survey

regions of any shape, adapt to known information about animal density

and detectability, and are potentially easier and less costly to

implement. We recommend their use as good, flexible candidate designs

for SCR surveys when reasonable knowledge of model parameters exists. We

provide software for researchers to construct their own designs, in the

form of updates to design functions in the r package oSCR.
Address
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Language Summary Language Original Title
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Series Volume Series Issue Edition
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Area Expedition (up) Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1618
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Author Hameed, S., Din, J. U., Ali, H., Kabir, M., Younas, M., Rehman, E. U., Bari, F., Hao, W., Bischof, R., Nawaz, M. A.
Title Identifying priority landscapes for conservation of snow leopards in Pakistan Type Journal Article
Year 2020 Publication Plos One Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages 1-20
Keywords
Abstract Pakistan’s total estimated snow leopard habitat is about

80,000 km2 of which about half is considered prime habitat. However,

this preliminary demarcation was not always in close agreement with the

actual distribution the discrepancy may be huge at the local and

regional level. Recent technological developments like camera trapping

and molecular genetics allow for collecting reliable presence records

that could be used to construct realistic species distribution based on

empirical data and advanced mathematical approaches like MaxEnt. The

current study followed this approach to construct an accurate

distribution of the species in Pakistan. Moreover, movement corridors,

among different landscapes, were also identified through circuit theory.

The probability of habitat suitability, generated from 98 presence

points and 11 environmental variables, scored the snow leopard’s assumed

range in Pakistan, from 0 to 0.97. A large portion of the known range

represented low-quality habitat, including areas in lower Chitral, Swat,

Astore, and Kashmir. Conversely, Khunjerab, Misgar, Chapursan, Qurumber,

Broghil, and Central Karakoram represented high-quality habitats.

Variables with higher contributions in the MaxEnt model were

precipitation during the driest month (34%), annual mean temperature

(19.5%), mean diurnal range of temperature (9.8%), annual precipitation

(9.4%), and river density (9.2). The model was validated through

receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plots and defined thresholds.

The average test AUC in Maxent for the replicate runs was 0.933 while

the value of AUC by ROC curve calculated at 0.15 threshold was 1.00.

These validation tests suggested a good model fit and strong predictive

power. The connectivity analysis revealed that the population in the

Hindukush landscape appears to be more connected with the population in

Afghani- stan as compared to other populations in Pakistan. Similarly,

the Pamir-Karakoram population is better connected with China and

Tajikistan, while the Himalayan population was connected with the

population in India. Based on our findings we propose three model

landscapes to be considered under the Global Snow Leopard Ecosystem

Protection Program (GSLEP) agenda as regional priority areas, to

safeguard the future of the snow leopard in Pakistan and the region.

These landscapes fall within mountain ranges of the Himalaya, Hindu Kush

and Karakoram-Pamir, respectively. We also identified gaps in the

existing protected areas network and suggest new protected areas in

Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan to protect critical habitats of snow

leopard in Pakistan.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition (up) Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1617
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Author Atzeni, L., Cushman, S. A., Bai, D., Wang, J., Chen, P., Shi, K., Riordan, P.
Title Meta-replication, sampling bias, and multi-scale model selection: A case study on snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in western China. Type Journal Article
Year 2020 Publication Ecology and Evolution Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages 1-27
Keywords MaxEnt, meta-replication, multi-scale, Panthera uncia, sampling bias, scale selection, snow leopard, species distribution model
Abstract Replicated multiple scale species distribution models (SDMs)

have become increasingly important to identify the correct variables

determining species distribution and their influences on ecological

responses. This study explores multi-scale habitat relationships of the

snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in two study areas on the Qinghai–Tibetan

Plateau of western China. Our primary objectives were to evaluate the

degree to which snow leopard habitat relationships, expressed by

predictors, scales of response, and magnitude of effects, were

consistent across study areas or locally landcape-specific. We coupled

univariate scale optimization and the maximum entropy algorithm to

produce multivariate SDMs, inferring the relative suitability for the

species by ensembling top performing models. We optimized the SDMs based

on average omission rate across the top models and ensembles’ overlap

with a simulated reference model. Comparison of SDMs in the two study

areas highlighted landscape-specific responses to limiting factors.

These were dependent on the effects of the hydrological network,

anthropogenic features, topographic complexity, and the heterogeneity of

the landcover patch mosaic. Overall, even accounting for specific local

differences, we found general landscape attributes associated with snow

leopard ecological requirements, consisting of a positive association

with uplands and ridges, aggregated low-contrast landscapes, and large

extents of grassy and herbaceous vegetation. As a means to evaluate the

performance of two bias correction methods, we explored their effects on

three datasets showing a range of bias intensities. The performance of

corrections depends on the bias intensity; however, density kernels

offered a reliable correction strategy under all circumstances. This

study reveals the multi-scale response of snow leopards to environmental

attributes and confirms the role of meta-replicated study designs for

the identification of spatially varying limiting factors. Furthermore,

this study makes important contributions to the ongoing discussion about

the best approaches for sampling bias correction.
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Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition (up) Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1616
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Author Chetri, M., Odden, M., Devineau, O., McCarthy, T., Wegge, P.
Title Multiple factors influence local perceptions of snow leopards and Himalayan wolves in the central Himalayas, Nepal. Type Journal Article
Year 2020 Publication PeerJ Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages 1-18
Keywords Panthera uncia, Canis lupus chanco, Perceptions, Large carnivores, Trans-Himalayas
Abstract An understanding of local perceptions of carnivores is

important for conservation and management planning. In the central

Himalayas, Nepal, we interviewed 428 individuals from 85 settlements

using a semi-structured questionnaire to quantitatively assess local

perceptions and tolerance of snow leopards and wolves. We used

generalized linear mixed effect models to assess influential factors,

and found that tolerance of snow leopards was much higher than of

wolves. Interestingly, having experienced livestock losses had a minor

impact on perceptions of the carnivores. Occupation of the respondents

had a strong effect on perceptions of snow leopards but not of wolves.

Literacy and age had weak impacts on snow leopard perceptions, but the

interaction among these terms showed a marked effect, that is, being

illiterate had a more marked negative impact among older respondents.

Among the various factors affecting perceptions of wolves, numbers of

livestock owned and gender were the most important predictors. People

with larger livestock herds were more negative towards wolves. In terms

of gender, males were more positive to wolves than females, but no such

pattern was observed for snow leopards. People’s negative perceptions

towards wolves were also related to the remoteness of the villages.

Factors affecting people’s perceptions could not be generalized for the

two species, and thus need to be addressed separately. We suggest future

conservation projects and programs should prioritize remote settlements.
Address
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Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition (up) Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1615
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Author Sharma, R. K., Sharma, K., Borchers, D., Bhatnagar, Y V., Suryawanshi, K. R., Mishra, C.
Title Spatial variation in population-density of snow leopards in a multiple use landscape in Spiti Valley, Trans-Himalaya Type Research Article
Year 2021 Publication PloS One Abbreviated Journal
Volume Issue Pages 1-14
Keywords
Abstract The endangered snow leopard Panthera uncia occurs in human use landscapes in the mountains of South and Central Asia. Conservationists generally agree that snow leopards must be conserved through a land-sharing approach, rather than land-sparing in the form of strictly protected areas. Effective conservation through land-sharing requires a good understanding of how snow leopards respond to human use of the landscape. Snow leopard density is expected to show spatial variation within a landscape because of variation in the intensity of human use and the quality of habitat. However, snow leopards have been difficult to enumerate and monitor. Variation in the density of snow leopards remains undocumented, and the impact of human use on their populations is poorly understood. We examined spatial variation in snow leopard density in Spiti Valley, an important snow leopard landscape in India, via spatially explicit capture-recapture analysis of camera trap data. We camera trapped an area encompassing a minimum convex polygon of 953 km2. Our best model estimated an overall density of 0.5 (95% CI: 0.31–0.82) mature snow leopards per 100 km2. Using AIC, our best model showed the density of snow leopards to depend on estimated wild prey density, movement about activity centres to depend on altitude, and the expected number of encounters at the activity centre to depend on topography. Models that also used livestock biomass as a density covariate ranked second, but the effect of livestock was weak. Our results highlight the importance of maintaining high density pockets of wild prey populations in multiple-use landscapes to enhance snow leopard conservation.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN ISBN Medium
Area Expedition (up) Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1637
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Author Lewis, M., Songster, E.E.
Title Studying the snow leopard: reconceptualizing conservation across the China–India border Type Journal Article
Year 2016 Publication British Journal for the History of Science Abbreviated Journal BJHS
Volume Themes 1 Issue 1 Pages 169-198
Keywords
Abstract The snow leopard is a highly charismatic megafauna that elicits admiration, concern and donations from individuals and NGOs in the West. In its home territories, however, it is a threat to local communities’ livestock and a potential source of income for its pelt and parts. Conservation and study are further challenged by its range; snow leopards traverse the borders separating China, India and ten other countries with long histories of tension with each other as well as internal political and economic struggles. This transnational animal provides an ideal case study for the consideration of transnational conservation science in the recent past.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1638
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